St. Clair Shores council upset with contractor's work

By
Mitch Hotts, The Macomb Daily

Monday, August 26, 2013

St. Clair Shores officials are upset with a number of blunders and delays with an ongoing infrastructure improvement program including several reports of sidewalks having to be constructed more than once due to poor workmanship.

At issue is an $811,000 sidewalk and water main replacement program that has run into a lengthy list of problems ranging from faulty driveway slopes to tall weeds popping up on hydro-seeded lawns to significant schedule delays.

“We’ve had complaints truthfully about the contractor, complaints about the quality of work being done, a lack of work being done, (and) sidewalks being pitched wrong or dirt being poured much too early,” said Mayor Kip Walby.

The City Council on Aug. 19 met with John Chown, an engineer with the firm Anderson, Eckstein & Westrick (AEW), which was hired to supervise the improvement program. Council members grilled Chown for more than 90 minutes about the program as he reviewed the progress on each of the construction projects.

Chown said while he could defend some of the issues, including the rainy spring and early summer weather that contributed to a 2-month delay in finishing some of the work, other problems had no explanation. He said the contractors would pay for re-doing any work deemed substandard.

But that didn’t sit well with the mayor or council members. They said AEW failed to fulfill its role in overseeing the quality of the work being performed, which is what the city paid them to do.

“To be honest with you, it doesn’t look like you’ve done a very good job,” Walby said at the meeting. “AEW has done a poor job this summer. We expect better things from you.”

According to Chown, the work on Edgewater and Port streets -- the two largest project areas -- are substantially finished, as are Fresard and Maxine streets. However, there was a delay in seeding some of the properties, and as a result, large weeds have sprouted. In some areas, the contractors failed to place a sign on lawns notifying the public about pesticides put down for the weeds, a potential violation of state law.

The bulk of the problems are on Talbot and Detour streets, where some sidewalks that were supposed to have 4 inches of concrete poured, had only half that amount, according to council members. After the lack of appropriate thickness was pointed out to the contractor, some of the sidewalks were poured again. And for a second time, some of the re-pourings lacked the required 4 inches.

In some cases, Chown acknowledged, AEW inspectors were not on the scene to supervise the work being performed by the contractors, as required in the contract.

Three different contractors worked on the projects but the one with the most complaints was T.R. Pieprzak of St. Clair County’s China Township, which worked on both the Talbot and Detour programs.

“The re-do was as just as bad as the first time around,” Councilman Chris Vitale said. “We pay you to make sure these are done right. It wasn’t done right the first time. It wasn’t done right the second time. Should we pay you?”

Chown said AEW will make the contractors pay for the bungled work through penalty fines for damages. He said the firm would do “whatever you require” to address the problems.

“I understand everyone is frustrated and I am just as frustrated,” Chown told the council. “I can’t make excuses for the contractor.”

Walby, the mayor, ordered the engineering firm to evaluate the thickness of all of the sidewalks that were replaced on Talbot and Detour and repair any outstanding problems before any further payments are made. “Not another dime goes to them until it’s completely done,” he said.

Other council members said another construction company may be called in to re-do the projects Pieprzak worked on.